Ambiguity and the Ethics of Reading Race and Lynching in James W. Johnson’s The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man (1912)

Authors

  • Carmen Dexl

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5283/copas.111

Abstract

James Weldon Johnson’s novel The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man “(1912) discusses the causes, conditions, and implications of passing in a segregated society. The essay argues that the novel’s aesthetics of ambiguity conveys and reflects an ambivalence towards the concept of race. Using theories of Geoffrey Galt Harpham and John Guillory, it elaborates an ethics of reading race and lynching in The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Ma“n.

Author Biography

Carmen Dexl

Carmen Dexl studied English and American Studies, History, and Political Science with a focus on the USA at Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg. She received her M.A. in July 2007. Since October 2007 she has been writing her doctoral thesis on the ethics and aesthetics of representations of lynching in African American narrative literature (1900-1973). Her academic interests include African American Studies, theories of ethics and aesthetics, and the intersection of literary studies, cognitive theory, and neuroscience. She is co-organizer of the 9th international and interdisciplinary graduate conference Critical Perspectives: Turns, Trends and Theories at Erlangen University in November 2009.

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How to Cite

Dexl, Carmen. “Ambiguity and the Ethics of Reading Race and Lynching in James W. Johnson’s The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man (1912)”. Current Objectives of Postgraduate American Studies, vol. 10, Mar. 2012, doi:10.5283/copas.111.

Issue

Vol. 10 (2009)

Section

Articles

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Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work’s authorship and initial publication in this journal.